Blood on Their Hands: The Story of a Hemophiliac Child in the Jehovah’s Witness Cult by Shan Beth

Author:Shan, Beth [Shan, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Anonymous
Published: 2011-03-05T16:00:00+00:00

1980s—Growing into Womanhood

The 1980s saw an enormous rebellion within the church, which some refer to as The Great Apostasy. The culture was comparable to how I imagine the Salem witch trials. Everyone was affected by the devil. Everyone was a suspect. The crime of apostasy was no longer only defined as teaching against the church, it now included just thinking against or questioning the church.

The church responded with developing new and stronger categories of discipline, and liberally used excommunication. Even unbaptized children who were deemed to be questioning the religion or disloyal would be excommunicated; their families could only speak to them minimally to carry out parenting tasks. could only speak to them minimally to carry out parenting tasks. year-old peers who were excommunicated after being accused of fornication and drug use.

Disciplinary teams known as judicial committees, staffed by church elders, met frequently after tri-weekly church services. Disciplinary decisions were announced during church services, with the name of the individual and a reading of a scripture about specific types of sins and wickedness. While some individuals were sanctioned (“marked” or “publicly reproofed”), most were excommunicated

(“disfellowshipped”). Members were not permitted to have any verbal exchange with excommunicated individuals. Raymond Franz, a member of the Society’s Governing Body—and nephew of the president himself—was convicted of apostasy for talking to a former member.xxxvi

A VICIOUS wild beast is on the prowl. He has an insatiable desire to devour Christians…We can be sure that the Devil and his agents, both demon and human, stand ready to exploit any gnawing doubt, any serious flaw of personality, any negligence on our part to keep spiritually strong in the faith. But Jehovah's Word assures us that the Devil will not devour us if we take a firm stand against him. For instance, no one falls victim to apostasy because it just could not be avoided…If we are not continually on guard, the Devil can by his sly propaganda make our hearts receptive to apostate thinking. But how does the Devil, in effect, set a person up as a likely casualty, a victim of apostasy? Common attitudes that Satan looks for are bitterness, resentment, and faultfinding…While in this state of mind, if someone comes along and suggests that Jehovah's organization is oppressive or restrictive, or even wrong in certain vital teachings, the embittered Christian's heart may be receptive to such unfounded claims…Do not let the Devil make you a candidate for apostasy because you have become…doubtful…! xxxvii

Stories were told of disaffected members turning to prostitution, drugs, and group sex—all direct consequences of leaving the organization, which caused the devil to take over their lives. Sermons from the pulpit and publications were more paranoid and controlling than ever.

We were warned against thinking for ourselves.

Jehovah is not pleased if we receive that food [teachings] as though it might contain something harmful. We should have confidence in the channel God is using. xxxviii

From the very outset of his rebellion Satan called into question God's way of doing things. He promoted independent thinking. 'You can decide for yourself what is good and bad,' Satan told Eve.

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